Sarah Giddings, NBCT

Sarah Giddings, NBCT, is an advisor, instructor, and curriculum coordinator for Washtenaw Alliance for Virtual Education in Michigan. A 2015-2017 Hope Street Group National Teacher Fellow, Sarah has also served as a 2014-2015 Michigan Educator Voices Fellow and previously taught in Chicago Public Schools.

From the first day I stepped foot into my class in a small urban public high school, I realized one reality about teaching. Traditionally, the classroom can be one of the most isolating places to be for an educator. Although this is not my experience today, it took me a long time, many tears, and much frustration to find a sustainable network of educators that I could learn from regardless of classroom, location or grade level. This accessible group of educator peers is usually called a professional learning network, or PLN. When I graduated from college, I stayed in touch…